A big day for me

Well done Jane !Fingers crossed for you that all goes well!

Congratulations Jane10!

What an achievement, enjoy it!

Well done, Jane

Future book of the month on Gransnet?

Brilliant!
Well done!

How long did it take to do?
And did you self publish or have an agent, if you dont mind me asking.

Oh what a wonderful feeling it must be! Big congratulations and good luck with the launch etc.

From where I am, I can see the glow emanating from you What a fantastic achievement. Never mind any detractors, concentrate on those heaping praise! Well done

Thanks all. soontobe It didn't take all that long to actually write it- its been slowly fermenting in my brain for some years but the actual writing process took maybe a year off and on.
By an incredible series of odd events I heard of a small local publishing company, sent them my first three chapters in the time honoured way, had critique sent back, recovered(!), had meeting with MD, went back and finished book, resubmitted, another meeting, long hard time with copy editing (perhaps the worst bit seeing my thoughts/actual words being changed by others), arguing, proof reading (awful!) American proof reader changed it all into American English (painful) luckily editor changed it all back again -most of it! then cover design discussions, typesetting etc all organised by publisher. The one day he said that's it. Printer apparently organised and the books arrived yesterday.
Am incredibly grateful to the MD himself and the lovely creative director and editor.
Now more new stuff to learn, website, book promotion etc. Its been really exciting and stressful but its not put me off. Am now half way through writing part 2 of what has become a trilogy. I'm not retired any more. I'm a writer. (Sorry for being irritating, my gleefulness is irritating me too but it'll soon wear off!)

Oh Jane 10, many many congratulations. . I'm very pleased for you! Enjoy the glow of achievement.

You are not being irritating at all.
And I dont think there is anything wrong with being gleeful in these circumstances!

Helpful and useful points to know. I didnt know that copy editing existed really.
And had often wondered about the American side of things.

Keep us posted.

Jane

Blimey, I understand your euphoria, brilliant !

Congratulations.

Fantastic, good for you.

What an achievement! You've every right to feel happy and proud of yourself.

How fabulous for you , you be as excited as you like I know I would be if I were that clever

Jane10 That's fantastic! Well done to you, that is a great achievement.
Is it like giving birth?

Lona yes! More protracted and less physically painful. DH did hold my hand (metaphorically ) too!

Yes, well done. A fantastic achievement. I want to know more now. What's it about?

What a lovely thing to have achieved Jane. They say there is a book in everyone, but actually writing it is something really different. Well done, you deserve to feel really proud and happy. Thank you for sharing and making the day a happy one.

Congratulations Jane.

Sending a piece of writing off is like sending a child to their first day at school. You've cleaned and scrubbed it up to the Nth degree then just afterwards you're filled with the 'did I scrub behind the ears' feeling.

Well done!

jane congrats, that's wonderful. Do tell - is it fiction? Semi-autobiographical? Historical novel?

Congratulations on a great achievement.

You must be feeling fantastic after all that hard work...just like giving birth,which in a way it is. And just like a new mum it's all slightly scary...but in a good way .

Keep us posted so we can read and review.

Its a bit frustrating because its not for general release until January. That's for reasons I'm not entirely sure about but I'm not arguing about it. It's on Amazon now I see but not available until Jan.
Its just a light novel. Not autobiographical but set in the 1970s. I think its really about the characters. The story just wrote itself. That's why I'm doing the next 2 books. I feel I've created a world and I can't just walk away. I suppose its more like a literary soap! Feelgood stuff but with some twists

What a fantastic achievement! You should be very very proud of yourself. Do let us know when release is imminent, then we can all pre-order and get you on the best sellers list! What a feeling that must be, holding your own book......(can you guess, I am envious.....)

You must be on cloud nine! - hearty congratulations!

Very well done Jane!
Hope it does well through Amazon for you.